English 1213 Dr. Jones Session 1 Introduction to Information Literacy, Search Techniques & Finding Books Frederic Murray M.L.I.S. Reference Librarian

DID YOU KNOW… Part 1

Information Literacy It is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

Library Instruction in the Information Age A single current newspaper contains more written and visual information than the average person in the 17th Century was likely to come across in their entire lifetime. There are many areas of literacy that all add up to Information Literacy: Cultural, Visual, Media, Network, Computer, Traditional Alphabetic Literacy, and Library Instruction.

Educational Goals for 21 st Century 1. Teach students to be self-directed & understand how to organize more & more of their own learning. 2. Teach students the importance of global communication. 3. Teach students to deal with massive amounts of information.

Define: Catalog, Database, Indexes A comprehensive list of the books, periodicals, maps, and other materials in a given collection. A large, regularly updated file of digitized information related to a specific subject or field. An alphabetically arranged list of headings consisting of the personal names, places, and subjects treated in a specific work.

Part 2 Search Techniques

Keywords Flexible terms Easy searches Less accurate searches

Identifying Keywords Identify the significant terms and concepts that describe your topic from your thesis statement or research question. These terms will become the key for searching catalogs, indexes, and databases for information about your subject.

Other Keywords Identify the synonyms and antonyms to your keywords Use a thesaurus Use database tools like descriptors and subjects

Keyword Phrases Single concept, multiple words Some electronic resources require keyword phrases be enclosed with punctuation  Quotation marks  Parenthesis

Keyword Phrases Basic phrase Proper names Hyphenated words Slogans, advertisements Famous quotes Movie titles, song titles, etc. (criminal justice) “Native American” (x-ray) “I’m lovin’ it” (to be or not to be) “Lord of the Rings”

Paper Topic Treatment of employees by fast food restaurants

First, narrow down the topic  Which restaurants are you talking about?  What kind of treatment? Good or Bad Focusing on:  Working environment & hours  Benefits & Pay  Promotion & Opportunities  How employees are treated by their peers? Manager(s)? Customer(s)?

How “AND” is used AND (narrows)  restaurant and employee  restaurant and employee and “retirement benefits”

Select three keywords… RestaurantEmployeeSalary

How “OR” is used OR (expands)  restaurant or cafeteria  salary or income AND & OR together  restaurant or cafeteria and employee  salary or income and “work hours”

Select related terms… RestaurantEmployeeSalary Worker Waitress Cafeteria Eatery Benefits Income

Search Strategy Endless possibilities…  employee OR worker AND cafeteria AND salary  employee AND restaurant AND salary OR income  waitress AND eatery AND income

How “NOT” is used NOT (excludes)  cafeteria not school  income not influx AND, OR & NOT together  employee and restaurant or cafeteria not school

Boolean Operators Connect keywords only Must be placed between keywords AND  Narrows your search OR  Expands your search with synonymous terms NOT  Excludes words from your search  If used too much, it can work against you!

Truncation (Wildcards) Non-universal symbols used in searching Common symbols: * ? Used with a root word Used to replace a vowel or single character

Truncation (Wildcards) Root Word- looks for multiple endings of a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’  jump?  jump, jumps, jumping, jumper, jumpers  rope and jumping or jumps or jump  rope and jump?

Truncation (Wildcards) Singular/Plural- replaces a vowel or single character in a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’  wom*n  woman, women  history and woman or women  history and wom*n

Class Exercise Keyword Building Exercise Topic: U.S.A. Presidential Elections Thesaurus.com

U.S.A. Presidential Elections Union American National Voting History Choosing BallotingRecord Politics

Part 3 Finding Books

Library Catalog Search for books, e-books, and videos Renew your borrowed items Accessible from off-campus with no restrictions Operates best with the presented search techniques

Library Catalog Found Here

Subject Headings & Descriptors Library collections are organized by subject Search conducted by….  Author  Title  Subject Keywords

Library Catalog

WorldCat

Reference Materials Almanacs, dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias are useful tools for finding quick facts, statistics, or a broad overview of your topic. If you don't know much about your topic already, these tools can be a good place to start.

Class Exercise Library Catalog Worksheet  SWOSU  WorldCat

End of Session 1 Thank You